Circular-knitting machine.



W E. SMITH.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I3, 1914. LM L Patented July 13, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET X.

Jmi

WITNESSES I f I i INVENTOR *0.

w.. SMITH. CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I3. 19H

I Patented July 13, M25

?3 3 SIIEETSTSHEET 2.

WITNESSES a Wiwgmma Jwg z': BY EX/WW, ATTORNEYS W. E. SMITH.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

APPucATw'N 'mzn JULY 13. 1914. I

Pateflted July 13,1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 i v l/VVE/VTOR WI Til/E8855 A TTOR/VEY had to theaccompanying drawing which interior of the cam ring showing the knithasbeen raised above the position indicated tlil l llfi.

'iVIlLLIJElM E. SMITH, 0F MILLTOW'N, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR IO KILBOURN"MANUFAC- TUBIISTG- CORFORATIO'N, OF NEW "BRUNSWICK, NEW) JERSEY, A.CORIPDRATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CIRCU'LAHPKNITTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

means Patcn'teddnly 13,1915.

.npplication filed July 18, 191%. Serial No. 850,545.

T 0 all 10710221. it may concern lie it known that I, Winman E. Slnrrn,a citizen of the lnited States, residing at ll lilltown, in the countyof lvliddlescx and State of :N ew Jersey, have inrentcd certain new anduseful. Improvements in Circular- Knitting lrlachines; and I do herebydeclare the following to he a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

lily invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described,reference being,

with the long nib which knit the front portion of the leg and top of thefoot of the stocking. Fig. 16 is a detail view of one of the shortneedles provided with a short nib which knit the rear part of the leg,the sole, and the heel and toe pocket.

My present invention has special applicability to the knitting of acircular knit stocking invented by Edward E. Kilbourn, William E. Smith.and Isaac W. Kilbourn, in which the stitches throughout the soleport-ion of the foot of the stocking are informing the top portion ofthe foot in the corresponding courses, snfiiciently to make illustratesseveral embodiments of my 1n- I v the sole portion or the toot a size ormore rention, sel .cted by me for purposes of illustration, and the saidinvention is fully de scribed in the following description and claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents a partial sectional viewof a type of knitting machine for knitting seamless stockings, providedwith a stationarily' sup ported rotatable cam cylinder and verticallyadjustable needle cylinder, and having my improved invention embodiedtherein. Fig. 2 represents an elevation of a portion of the tion. of thefoot of the stocking for the purpose of fashioning the stocking to fitthe foot. The stocking itself, therefore, forms no part of the presentinvention.

The object of my present invention is to provide mechanism for knittingthe stock ing hereinbefore referred to upon a circular knitting machineprovided with a single cam cylinder, and to this end, it consists in thenovel features hereinafter described.

In carrying out my invention, 1 provide a circular knitting machine ofthe kind described having'only one cam cylinder for operating all of theneedles of the circular series with 'two sets of needles, one of whichknits the topportion of the foot, or that ting cam. Fig. 3 is a top planview of the same. Fig. alis a section on line 4--i of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 isa similar sectional View showings slightly modified construction. Fig. 6is a diagrammatic representation of the stocking designed to be knit bymy invention. Fig. 7 is a sectional view on line 7'? oi l lg. 6. Fig. 8represents a partial sectional view of a type of knitting machine havinga rotating needle cylinder and a stationary but vertically adjustablecam cylin' der having my invention embodied therein. Fig. 9 is a. topplan View of a portion of the machine illustrated in Fig. 8, a. partbeing broken away. Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view representing the raincylinder of, the machine shown in Figs. 8 and has it would appear ifspread out in a single plane. Fig. 11 is an enlarged view of the centralportion of Fig. 10. Fig. 12 is a vertical section on line 1212 of Fig.11. Fig. 13 is a View similar to Fig. 11, showing the relative positionsof the parts when the cam, cylinder tight stitches or what I may termnormal stitches such as are.used in the leg and top of the foot, and theother set of needles is employed to knit the sole of the foot of the thesame tight stitch that is employed in the frontportion or the leg. Theneedles of one series/are made of greaterlength from the cam engagingnib to the hook portion thereof than the other setrand the needles ofone series are provided with nibs of dif ferent length fromthe nibs ofthe needles of theother series land the cam cylinder is provided with. aknitting earn formed of two of the needles, the inner cam section. engagin Fig; 11. Fig. leis alvertical section on ing only the short nib's,and the outercan: line lat 14 of Fififid? Figllfi is a detail view ofone of long needles provided.

portion. of the tube'which is composed of stocking with a materiallylarger stitch, but which also must be capable of knitting the rearportion of the leg oi the stockingwith sections at ditlercnt distancesfro n the circle creased in size beyond that of the stitches long aswell as wider than the top portically with respect to the other. Itfollows'from this construction that if the nib engaging faces of the twocam sectioins are made to coincide as to drawzdoinn the needles of bothsets to the same extent the shorter needles will of necessity draw thethread a greater distance below the nosing or the sinkers orv othersupport for the knittd fabric, than the longer needles, and Will thusproduce stitches of larger gage than are produced by the longer needles.It will also be seen that by adjusting that portion of the cam whichoperates the shorter needles so that they are drawn down a less distancecorresponding to the difiicrence in the length of the two sets ofneedles, both sets of needles'will draw the same length of stitch, thatis to say, the normal or tight stitch.

In the specific embodiment of'my invention herein shown in Figs. 1 to llinclusive, of the drawings, A represents a needle cylinder provided withthe usual needle grooves to receive a series of needles B, one of whichis shown in Fig. 16, which knit the back of the leg, the sole of thefoot, and the heel and toe pockets, and a second series of needles B,one of which is shown in Fig. 15, which knit the front of the lea andtop of the foot. The series of needles B may be equal in number to theseries of needles B" or not as preferred, it being understood that thetwo series of needles complete the circular series necessary for theformation of the knitted tube. Each of the needles B is provided with'ashortnib Z and each of the needles B is provided with a longer nib b,-and the needles B are of greater length from the nib b to the hook,than. the distance from the nib b to the hook of the needles B, theincrease in length of the needles B being sufiici'ent to enable theneedles B which knit the sole of the stocking, to draw down theirstitches a sulficiently greater distance than the needles B, to makethese stitches through the sole of sufficientlyugreater size to make thesole portion of the stocking a size or more longer than thecorresponding top portion knit by the needles B. whenthe nibs of theneedles aredrawn down to the same point in the needle cylinder. the longsole portion being correspondingly increased in width. C represents thecam cylinder, which is provided with a cam groove 0 and with a duplexknitting cam o, 0 and a riser cam c. The knitting cam comprises anexterior fixed portion 0 ordinarily secured to the cam cylinder. and an.interior movable portion 0" capable of vertical movement with respect tothe fixed portion and in this instance being provided with screws 1]extending through vertically disposed slots (1 in the wall of the camcylinder and connecting the movableportion 0' of the knitting cam with aslide d on the exterior of the cam. S rcpresents the usual sinker ringand s the sinkers supported between the needles by means of a nosing Nwhich is preferably capable of slight vertical adjustment with respectto the cam cylinder C. in any usual or preferred way. Suitable means areprovided for rotating the needle cylinder with respect to the cam ringor the cam ring with respect to the needle cylinder. as preferred, andinthis instance, the cam C is shown as rotatable and is provided with. a.driving gear 0 engaged by a gear G for imparting motion thereto.

In knitting the leg of the stocking in which it desired that all of theneedles shall draw the same length of stitch, to wit, the normal ortight stitch, the adjustable portion 0" of the knitting cam, which aswill be seen, operativelyengages only the short nibs I) of the shortneedles B, will be set at its highest position, with its nib engagingface above that of the stationary portion 0 ot the cam. It now. the camcylinder C is rotated, a complete circular course of knitting will beproduced, thread being supplied to the entire circular series of needlesin any usual or well known way, and it will be noted that the longerneedles B will be operated upon only by the fixed portion 0 of theknitting cam, while the short needles B will be operatively engaged onlyby the movable portion 0 of the knitting cam and will therefore be drawndown to aless extent below the sinkers so that both sets of needles willbe drawn down to the same point below the sinkers and will draw the samelength stitch, to wit, the tight or normal stitch. When it is desired toknit the longer stitches on the needles B, the movable portion a of theknitting cam is depressed either by hand or automatically under thecontrol of suitable pattern mechanism in a well known way so that itsnib engaging portion will be made to coincide with that of thelixedportion of thecam, and thereupon, on the rotation of the cam cylinderfor circular work, as in knitting the foot portion of the stocking, theneedles B which knit the sole portion will have their short nibs carrieddown to the same point as the long nibs b of the needles B and as theneedles B are shorter than the needles B, the hooks of the needles Bwill be carried a greater distance below the sinkers than the hooks ofthe needles 13", thus drawing stitches of materially increased size andof sufficiently greater size tion of the stocking a. size or more longerthan the corresponding coursesof the top of the foot. It'it is desiredto reinforce the sole of the stocking to partially fill the largestitches forming the same, a reinforcing thread may be employed or thesole portion of the stocking may be knit with a finisher heavier threadthan the top portion of the foot. In Fig. 6 I have shown a side View ofthe stocking referred to, in which 1 represents'thc leg, and 2 the topof the loot, both knit with a tight stitch. 3 represents the heel pocketand 5 the toe pocket knit in the usual manner by narrowing and Wideningby reciprocating work, and preferably as a tight stitch, While thestitches b in the courses forming the sole portion of the foot oreknitby the needles B and are of greater size than the stitches it, thusmaking the sole portion of the foot not only longer, but wider than thecorresponding portion of the top of the loot, even thoughthe some numberof needles are employed in knitting both parts ofthe foot, the line oidivision being indicated the dotted line w--:r.

In case a slight adjustment of both thenorinel or tight stitches and acorresponding adjustment of the large stitches should be necessary toaccommodate the machine for using yarns of different size or thickness,this may be accomplished by vertically adjusting the nosing or thesupports for the sinkers, with respect to the knitting cam,Withoutell'ecting the operation of my apparatus or the relativedifference in size be tween the normal or tight stitch undthe enlajrgedstitch for the sole portion of the stocking. This may be accomplished inmany ways, for example, as shown. in Fig. 1, the cylinder is supportedupon it ringll, exteriorly threaded and engaging a threaded aperture inthe bed of the machine, and by adjusting this ring, the needle cylindermay be adjusted vertically, with respect to the cani cylinder toslightly vary the sins of the stitches as desired. v In Figs. 8 to 14%inclusive, 1 have shown my invention embodied in a knitting machine ofslightly difi'erent type and also wollknown in the art, in which thekitiitting cylinder A is supported upon .r'rotating plate A? providedwith means for importing rotary and reciprocating increment to thecylinder, said plate being, in this instance, provided with a gear it.beveled gearG to which power may be applied in av Well known way andpreferably under the control of oattern 'nieclienisni, to rotate thecylinder tiring circular "Work, and to reciprocate it duringreciprocating Work, end narrowing and Widening, for the meshing withtillformation of heel and toe pockets. C represents the ruin cylinder,which in this type of machine, does not rotate and is supported so as tobe vertically adjustable. In this instance, the can! cylinder C issupported upon plate a portion of which extends around the needlecylinder. and said plate is supported upon the upper end of a vcrtrcally adjustable column C which can be adjusted vertically, preferablyunder the control of pattern mechanism in a Well known way. The mainportions of this type of machine, including the parts above re ferredto, are so well known to those skilled in the art that a particularillustration and description of the same is deemed unncces' sary to aclear understanding of my invention as applied thereto. The needlecylii'r der A is provided with a series of consecutive needles B,provided with the short nibs F), such as illustrated in Fig. 16, forknitting the rear portion of the leg, the sole and the hccl and toepockets of the stocking, and

the remaining consecutive tricks of the liesdle cylinder are providedwith longer nibs B.

provided. with the longer nibs b suchv as tire illustrated in Fig. 15,there being preferably, but not necessarily, substantially the samenumber of each. kind of needles, and the needles B are sullicientlyshorter than the needles ll as hereinbefore stated, so that when bothsets of needles {1126 drawn down to the sznne extent, the shor needles BWill draw sulliciently longer stitches when knitting the sole of thestocking to make the fabricof the solo a size or more longer andcorrespondingly wider than the fabric formed by the correspondingcourses of the top of the foot. This machine, like the nib chinepreviously described, has only one cam cylinder, which is provided withe needles during circular work and: act in conjunction with the risercam 0" zldjacent thereto, the two cam sections a and a being arranged atdillerent distances from the center of the needle cylinder and the cam.section 0 being adapted to engage the short nibs, 1), only, oi theneedles B, while the outer cam section a is constructed to cum e thelong: nibs b of the needles B. The corn cylinder is also provided withan additional knitting cum 0 operating in conjunction with a riser cam 0when the needle cylinder is reversed during the alternate reciprocationsof reciprocating Work. The inner coin section (2 as Well as theadditional knitting corn 0, are usu lly supported from the verticellyadjusts-b e cam plate (3 by means of nrms or brackets c and 0respectively, and c central cum 0 between and above the knitting come,is also supported from the plate 0 by means of a plate. or bracket 0".The outer cam section 0* is supported n fixed re stitch forming camformed of two parts 0 'and c Which albne act to draw down the lationvertically with the needle cylinder in order that the relative positionsof the cam sections 0* and 0" may be varied in a vertical direction, andto this end I have shown the outer cam section 0 supported from the bedplate 1 of the machine, by means of a bracket arm 7) so that the camsection 0 which lies behind or outside of the cam section 0 remainsstationary while the cam cylinder and cam plate may be raised andlowered by means of the vertically adjustable column C.

When it is desired to knit a tubular portion of the fabric in which allof the stitches are to be uniform, as for example, the leg portion ofthestocking, which is to he knit with a tight stitch, the cam plate Cand cam cylinder C are moved to the position indicated in Fig. 13, thatis to say, the cam cylinder C is raised suiliciently from the bed plateP to elevate the inner cam section 0* so that its nib engaging face isas far above the nib engaging face of the outer cam section 0 as theneedles B exceed in length. the needles 3.. The parts being in thisposition when the needle cylinder is retated, the long needles will bedrawn down by the outer cam section 0 as usual, and the short needles Bwill be drawn down by'the inner cam section 0* to a sufficiently lessextent, as will be readily understood, so that the two sets of needleswilldraw stitches of equal length, to wit, the normal or tight stitches.In knitting the long fashioning sole of the stocking, the cam cylinderC.

will be lowered until the position indicated in Fig. 11, so as to bringthe nib engaging faces of the inner and outer cam sections 0 and a intoregistration and inknitting the sole of the stocking therefore, the longand short nibs will both be drawn down to the same point, thus carryingthe hooks of the shorter nibs b farther below the nosing than the booksof the long nibs B, which still draw the same. stitch as before, so thatthe short needles will draw a longer stitch than the long nibs, thestitches formed by the short needles being sufliciently longer to makethe sole portion of the stocking a size or more longer and wider thanthe corresponding courses of the top of the foot. The heel and toepockets will be formed of reciprocating work in the usual manner inwhich they are formed in this type of machin, which is well understoodby those skilled in the art, and. need not be herein specificallydescribed.

I am aware of the fact that a cam ring has been heretofore provided witha fixed and movable portion for an entirely difierent purpose orpurposes, in connection with needles havingthe same length from theirnibs to the hooks thereof, but I am not aware that such a cam has everbeen em.- ployed in combination with needles having It will beunderstood that in knitting a I circular knit stocking in accordancewith my improved invention the heel and toe pockets will be made bynarrowing and widening in the usual and well known manner, and I havetherefore not hereindescribed or shown the narrowing and wideningmechanism or the operation thereof.

What I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is: f l 1. In .acircular knitting machine, the combination with a circular series ofneedles, the successive needles for knitting one portion of the tubularfabric being of greater length between the operating nibs thereof andtheir thread engaging hook portions than the consecutive needles forknittin the other portions of the tubular fabric, an adjustable needleactuating means for drawing down said needles to the same extent whenknitting a portion of the knitted tube, aid to differentextents whenknitting other portions of the knitted tube.

2. In a circular knitting machine, the com- .bination with a circularseries of needles,

the successive needles for knitting oneportion of the tubular fabricbeing of ter length between the operatin nibs t erect and their threadengagin hook portions than the consecutive needles for knitting theother portions of the tubular fabric, the said long and short needleshaving respectively nibs of different lengths and needle 5 thesuccessive needles for knittin'gi'one por tion of the tubular fabricbeing of greater length between the operatin nibs thereof and theirthread engaging ook portions than the consecutive needles forknittingthe other portions of the tubular fabfidtm needles of one lengthhaving lon er nibs than those of the other length, nee le actuatingmechanism comprising a single cam cylinder, of a pair of separateknitting cams carried thereby and located at different distances fromthe circular series of needles, for actuating the long'and short nibneedles respectively, and one of said cams being vertically adjustableinto and out of registration with the other.

4. In a circular knitting machine, the combination with a circularseries of needles,

thereof than the consecutive needles for knitting the back of the legand sole of the stocking. the said longer needles having longer nibsthan those of the shorter needles. of needle actuating mechanismcomprising a single cam cylinder provided with an inner knitting camforengaging the short nib needles and an outer knitting rain for engagingthe. long nib needles. and means r'or varying the vertical position ofsaid inner knitting cam with respect to the outer knitting cam. and theneedles.

5. In a circular knitting machine. the co1n bination with a circularseries of needles, consecutive needles of said series for knit- 2o tingthe front of the leg and top of the foot of the stocking being ofgreater length from their actuating nibs to the hook portions thereofthan the consecutive needles for knitting the back of the leg and soleof the stocking. the said longer new es having longer nihs than those ofthe shorter needles, of needle actuating mechanism comprising a singleeam cylinder provided with an inner knitting cam for engaging the longnib needles. means for holding the outer cam stationary with respect tothe needles, and means for elevating and depressing the inner cam tobring its nib engaging face out of and into registration with the nibtengaging face of the other cam.

In testimony whereof I a liix my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses.

WILLIAM E. SMITH.

Witnesses Tniiononn (iouusn, CHARLES Dow.

